School presidents representing members of the New Big East will meet with representatives from FOX Sports and Madison Square Garden for an 11 a.m. ET press conference Wednesday in Manhattan to “reveal significant progress in the ongoing development of a multi-sport conference,” the league announced in a release Tuesday.

According to David Woods of the Indianapolis Star, that is where the conference will officially announce the widely reported news that Butler, Xavier, and Creighton will be added to the league. It has also been reported that the conference will announce a partnership with FOX Sports as the league’s primary media rights holder. The network reportedly offered $500 million for the rights as part of a 12-year.

This process has been set in motion since the group dubbed the “Catholic 7,” the Catholic-affiliated and basketball-centric universities formerly of the Big East, announced its desire to break away from the other football schools in the old conference. Speculation has been ongoing for months about the possible additional schools that would join the league.

It is also expected that the New Big East will announce what the release calls “advancements” in regards to the conference and Madison Square Garden, likely pertaining to the venue as a site for the league’s postseason tournament.

If the report proves to be true, the New Big East would include Butler, Xavier, Creighton, Marquette, DePaul, Providence, St. John’s, Villanova, Georgetown, and Seton Hall. That would mean that the conference stretches as far west as Omaha, Nebraska and as far east as Providence, R.I. Approximately 1,400 miles lay between those two cities.

The following was just sent to Creighton students and ticket holders 10 mins ago. I think this will be for the announcement.

The campus community, alumni and Bluejay fans are invited to a special University event on Wednesday, March 20 at 10 a.m. at the D.J. Sokol Arena inside the Wayne and Eileen Ryan Athletic Center on the Creighton campus. This is a special moment in history for the University and Creighton Athletics.
Go Jays!